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Live winter storm updates: Tallahassee coated in 2 inches of sleet mixed with snow

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Live winter storm updates: Tallahassee coated in 2 inches of sleet mixed with snow


A historic winter storm that dumped snow and sleet on a wide swath of the Gulf Coast left Tallahassee covered in a blanket of the frozen stuff Wednesday morning.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee recorded 1.9 inches of mostly sleet at its office on the campus of Florida State University.

Forecasters said it was too early to tell whether the ice and snow would approach or beat Tallahassee’s all-time snowfall record of 2.8 inches set in 1958.

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Here are updates from the path of the winter storm:

The Tallahassee Police Department is urging people to stay off the roads, which were slick and icy Wednesday morning.

The city never saw widespread official road closures. The most notable was a brief shutdown of a stretch of Thomasville Road in northeast Tallahassee and a longer-term closure of the Capital Circle flyover leading to Interstate 10.

But city and police officials warned that all roads should be considered dangerous.

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“Snowy, icy roads and continued freezing temps have created EXTREMELY dangerous roadway conditions,” the city said in a post on X/Twitter. “TPD urges residents to stay off the roads for their safety and for the safety of emergency responders.”

The city said emergency crews worked overnight to address issues and will continue working through the day.

“Road clearing crews spread more than 40 tons of sand over roadways including 25 bridges,” the city said. “As work continues, please stay off the roads. They are not safe for travel.”

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Tallahassee appeared to have gotten mostly sleet, with some snow mixed in, from the winter storm system — the result of a powerful Arctic air mass that invaded the Deep South colliding with slightly warmer air from the Gulf of Mexico.

“Definitely, the vast majority of it was sleet,” said David Reese, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee. “We may have had a couple of minutes periodically through the night that was pure snow. And there was a little bit of time periods last night and early this morning where it was a combination of freezing rain and sleet. So very, very icy.”

Reese said slightly warmer air — perhaps a degree above freezing — moved in over Tallahassee as part of a low pressure system that interacted with Arctic air already in place.

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“By warmer, I’m talking 33 degrees,” Reese said. “I mean that’s really all it takes — hey you get snow or you get sleet. If it had been 32 or or less, it would have been at least mixed in with a fair amount of more snow.”

He said snowfall totals across southern Alabama and Georgia, where the air was much colder, ranged from 6 to 8 inches. Parts of the Florida Panhandle got as much as 5 inches of snow.

With a coating of ice on trees and power lines, the city of Tallahassee said it restored power to 10 circuits and about 12,000 customers overnight.

The city’s online power outage map showed about 557 customers without power as of about 7:55 a.m.

“Crews are actively working and will continue to work through the day,” the city said in a mass text to customers. “Additional outages could occur.”

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Talquin Electrical Cooperative continued to struggle with widespread outages Wednesday morning in Wakulla County and southern and eastern Leon County, where freezing rain brought down lines. About 11% of the grid was offline at 8:15 a.m, with about half of customers in the dark in the Shadeville and Chaires areas.



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2 Florida Memorial University football players arrested in dorm invasion robbery: Cops

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2 Florida Memorial University football players arrested in dorm invasion robbery: Cops


A pair of football players at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens were arrested in connection with a home invasion robbery at a campus dorm, authorities said.

Russell Stroud Jr., 21, and Lelend Johnson, 18, were arrested Thursday on charges of home invasion robbery with aggravated battery, Miami-Dade jail records showed.

Stroud, originally from Tampa, is listed as a sophomore defensive back on the FMU Athletics website, while Johnson, under the name Leeland, is listed as a sophomore linebacker from Gainesville.

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Miami-Dade Corrections

Miami-Dade Corrections

Russell Stroud Jr. and Lelend Johnson

According to arrest reports, the alleged incident happened around 11 p.m. Wednesday when the victim said he was preparing to shower when he heard someone knocking on his dorm room door.

The victim said he opened his door and saw Johnson, then saw Stroud and two other unknown people who were wearing all black with ski masks push their way into his room, the reports said.

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He said Stroud yelled “re-up” and directed the two unknown suspects to hit him before he was pistol-whipped in the head and punched multiple times, the reports said.

The suspects took his bookbag that contained school supplies and his high school diploma, and one of them grabbed his phone but dropped it as they ran out of the room.

He alerted campus security, who contacted police.

The victim said he didn’t know why he was targeted, and had recognized Stroud from his dreadlocks, the reports said.

Police reviewed surveillance footage that showed multiple subjects exiting one dorm room and standing nearby while Johnson, who wasn’t wearing a mask, knocked on the victim’s door, the reports said.

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When Johnson was interviewed by detectives, he said he came from Stroud’s room but was alone when he knocked on the door and said multiple people came out of nowhere and he tried to stop them from entering, the reports said.

Johnson and Stroud were booked into jail, and were expected to appear in bond court on Friday.



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Top Florida High School WR Prospect Finally Makes Commitment Official

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Top Florida High School WR Prospect Finally Makes Commitment Official


One of the top wide receiver prospects in the country ended any speculation that he was looking elsewhere by signing with Syracuse University on Thursday.

A day removed from the start of national signing day, Calvin Russell from Miami Northwestern High School put his name on the dotted line with the Orange and head coach Fran Brown.

The 6-foot-5 Russell committed to Syracuse this past July, but opted not to sign on Wednesday as speculation grew that Miami and Michigan were both trying to flip him away from the Orange.

Justin Giangrande, the manager for Russell, posted on social media that he “needed more time to pray” before making a final decision and that he wanted to “make sure he is 100 percent certain with this decision before signing.”

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That came on Thursday when he became the 25th member of the Class of 2026 for Syracuse during the early signing period to commit.

Regarded as the No. 2 overall player in the state of Florida by 247Sports, Russell holds 52 offers to play college football. He is the No. 2 wide receiver in the Class of 2026 and the 23rd-ranked player overall in the country.

In nine games reported to MaxPreps this past season, Russell caught 32 passes for 517 yards with seven receiving touchdowns. He also completed 15 of 19 passes for 368 yards and four passing touchdowns.

As a junior, Russell helped the Bulls to a Class 3A Florida high school football state championship under NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, catching 39 passes for 704 yards and 13 touchdowns.

During his sophomore season, Russell saw time at quarterback, with a big rushing game of 144 yards against Miami Central.

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As a freshman, Russell hit the field for Miami Northwestern, playing both wide receiver and quarterback. He had seven catches for 91 yards, threw for 217 with a TD and ran 23 times for 160 yards with another score.

Russell’s mom, Chanlvia Broussard, was a standout basketball player at the University of Miami. She was inducted into the school’s hall of fame.

According to 247Sports, Russell has offers to play basketball from several schools including Michigan, Illinois, LSU, Arizona State, Penn State, Florida Atlantic and Tulane.

Miami Northwestern will play Bishop Moore on Friday night in the Class 3A Florida high school football playoffs semifinals. The winner meets either Raines or Booker for the state championship later this month.



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Florida drug bust seizes 92,000 pounds of 7-OH, arsenal of guns and explosives, sheriff says: “‘Breaking Bad’ on steroids”

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Florida drug bust seizes 92,000 pounds of 7-OH, arsenal of guns and explosives, sheriff says: “‘Breaking Bad’ on steroids”


In what is considered the largest bust of its kind in the country, a young man is facing serious charges after a Central Florida drug and explosives seizure unveiled an operation that authorities referred to as “‘Breaking Bad’ on steroids.”

In a Facebook video shared Wednesday, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey and Palm Bay Police Chief Mariano Augello announced they arrested 26-year-old Maxwell Horvath on several charges after local and federal law enforcement agents seized approximately 92,000 pounds of an illegal substance believed to contain concentrations of 7-OH — a byproduct of the kratom plant said to be just as addictive as opioids — with a street value of around $4.7 million.

Earlier this year, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued an emergency rule banning the use of 7-OH, calling it an “immediate danger.” Uthmeier is looking to have a judge toss out a challenge to a rule banning the sale and manufacture of the kratom byproduct.

“This is what danger looks like right here,” Ivey said, detailing the dozens of weapons and boxes shown throughout the video. “Everything that you see behind us, everything you see in front of us, is a red flag for disaster.”

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Augello added that along with the drugs, agents seized an arsenal of firearms and explosives, including five improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on the property where the warrant was searched, along with grenade simulators and 50 pounds of precursor chemicals to make explosives.

“We’re not just talking about drugs, we’re not just talking about illegal substances out in the street, we’re talking about explosive devices,” he said. “Things that the military and other countries are utilizing all over the world to take out populations of people.”

Ivey chimed in, calling the situation “terrorist activity across the board.”

“This guy was either looking to engage in war or looking to arm those or furnish to those who are,” Ivey said.

A month-long investigation unveils a “Breaking Bad” operation

The bust came after a month-long investigation that began in September involving the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Palm Bay Police Department.

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According to Ivey, Horvath ran a Palm Bay business called Overseas Organics, where agents bought drugs and military-grade weaponry from him during the investigation, and at one point even toured his facility.

“This thing looked like ‘Breaking Bad’ on steroids is what it looked like,” he said. “[Horvath] had it lined up with all sorts of different chambers and rooms, sterile environments, everything else.”

Ivey added that Horvath would allegedly take and extract 7-OH, then put it into compression machines before shipping it outside of Florida, believing it would not violate the new state law surrounding the substance.

“Well, trick-or-treat, he is,” he said. “Not only is he violating the law for that, but all the weapons, all the explosive devices, everything else that he has, is going to land him in prison for the rest of his life.”

According to Ivey and Augello, Horvath is a “career offender” with a criminal record going as far back as when he was only 17. Ivey said that in 2017, Horvath had served two years in federal prison for possession of an explosive device, trafficking MDMA and served two years of federal probation.

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Horvath is currently in custody, where he is facing a plethora of charges, including 36 counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, one count of possession of a short-barreled rifle, two counts of possession of a short-barreled machine gun, and more charges related to the explosives. Additionally, Ivey said Horvath also has pending federal indictments.



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